It hasn’t been long since we’ve seen Kirby return to the spotlight with his last outing being Kirby and the Forgotten Land in 2022. Just the next year in 2023, it’s time to revisit the past in Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe, a remaster of the classic Wii title, Return to Dreamland (2011), but reimagined and upgraded for Switch. It’s time to experience the classic Kirby platforming we know and love and with new abilities and worlds to explore.

The journey starts on Planet Popstar, the home of the adorable little pink blob and hero of his world, Kirby. One day, an interdimensional starship, the Lor Starcutter, crash-lands and it’s up to Kirby to help its owner, Magalor, rebuild it. The mission: Set off to other dimensions and find all the pieces to put the ship back together.

Kirby’s love for inhaling anything in his way and floating past obstacles in a balloon-like manner continues to be a vital component, but there’s another element being added here. Nintendo’s iconic 2D platforming gets a massive level up with the use of “copy abilities” and “super abilities” letting Kirby absorb powers for a time. My highlight was turning into stone which often meant some variation of a statue, including an incredibly buff statue and various sculptures of other characters. Most importantly, Kirby dons hats, hair, and weapons that fit nicely with each power. Another favourite was the ultimate power move, Kirby’s “Mecha” form. Taking on the form of a mech, complete with shoulder cannons and jet-pack, which is most definitely not the soft squishy guy we know, is an absolute blast.

The worlds all have a distinct feel – from colourful green landscapes to vast golden sweeping deserts, no two places feel too similar. Characters are adorable, squishy, and charming, in fact, I struggled to confront some enemies that I deemed to be “too cute,” instead, opting to float on by them. The level design doesn’t veer too far from traditional platformers with obstacles needing to be dealt with or avoided altogether, but mostly, it works.

2D platformers are by no means new, and on occasion, it felt somewhat dull, but thanks to an abundance of lively music, scenery, and ability variation, my doubts were extremely short-lived. Mini-levels in each level sometimes had way more interesting gameplay than the main sections and I found myself disappointed I couldn’t spend more time in them. For the most part, there was such a fun atmosphere it was easy enough to overlook the shortcomings.

It wouldn’t be a “deluxe” game without plenty more to see and do. On top of the story mode, there’s the Merry Magoland, an amusement park packed with mini-games that can be played solo or multiplayer, both online and locally, and there are prizes up for grabs. Unlockable abilities through collecting stars and bonus levels give the game another boost in content. With a 4-player drop-in local co-op, the whole game can be experienced with friends whenever your heart desires.

Kirby ran perfectly on the Switch for me, with no frame drops or notable performance issues. Inputs are responsive and massively improve on the original motion controls of the Wii version, playing well with Joy-Con or a controller. Of course, it looks incredible, handheld or docked. The graphical quality is crisp and colourful. For a revamp of an already well-regarded game from 12 years ago, a good portion of the original is kept but with a massive glow-up to visuals, music, and content.

There isn’t much challenge for those wanting to speed their way through the story thanks to copy abilities and streamlined level design. The story-mode clocks in at 7-9 hours by itself, but with a massive amount of things to do and unlock, there’s a high chance to play for way longer. For those who want a cruisier trip, Helper Magalor can be activated, providing potions and saving Kirby from falling off the world. As wholesomely as one would expect, there’s no failure, just an encouragement to keep on moving.

Long-time fans, the young, and the young-at-heart will have a lot to feast on with this extra serving of Kirby’s antics. Cute, quirky, and full of heart, Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe is an adventure worth revisiting.

Written by: Yasmin Noble